There is no doubt that what people used to attribute to faeries or the supernatural is now often attributed to space aliens. This shift in attribution can be attributed to a number of factors, including advances in technology, changes in societal beliefs and values, and cultural influences. One reason for this shift is the prevalence of science fiction and popular media that often depict extraterrestrial beings and their technology. Shows like The X-Files, Ancient Aliens, and Doctor Who have made the idea of alien life and visitation more mainstream, leading many people to think about the possibility of alien intervention in human affairs. Another reason for this shift is the way that our understanding of the universe has changed over time. As our knowledge of space and the cosmos has expanded, so too has our understanding of what is possible in terms of extraterrestrial life. With the discovery of exoplanets and the possibility of habitable zones in our own galaxy, the idea of intelligent alien life has become more plausible than ever before. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message

Welcome to another podcast.  This time we'll be taking a further look at Historic UFO sightings across Scotland, and their curious relationship to the locations of where you might find ancient tumuli or ancient barrows, or indeed other ancient monuments.  Something which Scotland has copious amounts of.  I spent the afternoon putting this together, and if you don't say Wow at the end of it, then I'll have failed in my task.   In some ways, this podcast will go full circle on some of the matters we've discussed before, because it will utilize and link historical accounts, some folklore, oral testimony, even fairy-lore.  I'm sure it will all make sense.  You'll be an expert on Scottish Ufology by the end of this podcast.  So let's stuck in. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message

This podcast is specifically about what a Hedge Witch does today, and as best as we can piece together true historical accounts, what they once did.  I'm a stickler for the truth, not fanciful things to satisfy people who want to dress up or claim to be a witch just to spook their Christian parents or the unenlightened.  What you do, should be your choice however.  There is no dogma here.  Today we'll be looking at the working tools, or rather the lack of them. The main issue here for me, is that one person's guesswork or creative writing becomes another person's dogma.  Once it's been repeated and reprinted a thousand times it becomes their facts which they quote as though it was just like that.  I'll put it to you that if you hold so strongly to any belief or idea, then you really need to reconsider why you believe that is so, and prove it to yourself by researching where that dogma or idea actually came from.  Often you will find someone made it up, quite recently. We won't be doing that here.  We will be looking at what is known and verified.  Emphasizing ALWAYS that there is no such strict dogma in the true Scottish Witchcraft practiced by my ancestors.  Whether what these Cunning women, Cunning men, and Highland Seers, and Spaewives, practiced was even witchcraft as we understand it today, is open to question. When it comes to Hedge Witchcraft, some things are assumed or borrowed from other Pagan practices.  Whether they were one and the same, no one is alive today to confirm or deny any of that.  One basic tenet of paganism is that all paths to the creative life force are valid and are to be respected. The aim of these podcasts is to give you as true an idea of what went on, as we possibly can.  The only books referenced will be well over 100 years old, and often were based on oral testimonies which the Scottish authors wrote down and published. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message

Today, I'm going to relate my experience with the greys, which really started before I was even born.  This is not a topic I feel comfortable about.  In a previous episode, I described my experience in what I believe was an alien abduction.  I'm going to revisit it today.  More importantly, I'm going to try and address some kindred experiences which make me uncomfortable.  I suspect, that for a lot of us who have had these experiences we don't think they are all that important, or we attempt to refute or dismiss them for our own comfort.  Also, the smaller experiences, can seem much less invasive and easier to dismiss.  There could be something in that, perhaps we are not meant to think too hard about it.  Not even when there is a catalogue of such experiences throughout our lives. I'll be blunt.  I am curious but uncomfortable with the whole topic.  I think we could look at the case history of Whitley Strieber here and consider that there are people, who for some reason or other, have a lifelong set of experiences with some other lifeforms.  Space Aliens or otherwise.  Perhaps, because of people like Whitely, the rest of us are able to put our own experiences into words.  I am particularly open to the idea that these are very Earthly beings and may even be demonic in nature.   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message

There are few things in Scottish mythology as feared and terrifying as a Kelpie.  Kelpies are shape-shifting aquatic monsters which haunt rivers, lochs and the sea.  A Kelpie is known in the Gaelic as an Each Uisge, which is literally a water-horse. The stories of Kelpies abound and come down to us from prehistoric times.  I go into this topic with a little bit of trepidation, and part of me even wants to avoid talking about it, because the myth of the Kelpie is something which chilled me as a child.  The window behind me is open wide, that's real thunder and lightning you are hearing behind me.  Thunder and lightning and a fierce wind just began happening as I began to speak about this, I am superstitious enough to wonder if we should even go there.  Coincidence to the non-believer maybe, but perhaps a sign to those schooled in the Arts and lore of the ancients.  Oddly enough the sound of a kelpie’s tail entering the water is said to resemble the sound of thunder.  Let's look at some recorded accounts of people encountering demonic Kelpies. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message

There is much imagined and written down by people who in recent times, have made incredible assumptions, often showing complete ignorance of recorded history of what pertains to witchcraft, and what does not.  The question is, was this done out of ignorance, or was it done intentionally?  In the case of Gerald Gardner, probably mostly the former and partly the latter.  I've hinted at this before, but it would seem that he wanted to wash Lucifer out of Leland's Aradia, and yet to use the book to create a ritualistic dogma which does not exist within Aradia.  Aradia is about a slave class of people who have broken free, live apart, and view mainstream society and anyone affluent as their enemy.  Gardner of course, could not have that in his new improved Wicca. Okay so the obvious question here would be, do any other similar historical records of witchcraft exist which could corroborate this idea?  In particular, since Gardner was looking for evidence of British witchcraft, yet Aradia is about Italian witchcraft.  Well, yes there are. Let's start by ignoring the testimonies of alleged 'witches' were forced to make under duress by the very oppressive church, who through pain and threat of death could make people admit to anything.  Sure, we can gleam some things from them, but in the main we know how flawed that is as an historical resource. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message

Welcome to Season 2 Episode 1.  Let's mark Bram Stoker's upcoming 175th birthday, with some real tales of Vampires.  As we approach Bram Stoker's 175th Birthday.  I thought it would be interesting to look at what might have inspired him to write his most famous novel 'Dracula'.  You don't really have to go to the Carpathian Mountains, to find historical accounts of vampire stories, or in fact Dracula's castle.  The British Isles have had our fair share of Vampire encounters over the years, and today we are going to explore some of them. The scene is set, to talk about some real Vampire encounters which might have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message

There are many Paths in Paganism today, none so more real and Earthy in my opinion and close to real old-time witchcraft, than a Hedge Witch.  How can I say that?  Well as a Hereditary Hedge Witch myself, I can tell you that Hedge Witches still exist. Many of them are Hereditary, applying the knowledge and passed down skills of their forebears.  Both of my grandmothers could have been easily described as Scottish Hedge Witches.  It was common in Scotland, for a farmer's daughter for instance, to have a strong knowledge of matters which today, many might call Witchcraft of Wicca. There are more than a few definitions of what a Hedge Witch is and does, but the reality is why speculate on what is witnessed in Oral Testimony and passed down knowledge within families which still practised the old religion.  But then, is it a religion, or is it a way of life.   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message

Let's discuss the Fairy Folk known in the Celtic nations of the British Isles.  First of all what are Fairies?  Certainly not the cutesy Tinkerbell from Peter Pan.  The Scots and Irish, who have had some dealings with the Faeries, will probably argue they are just like us.  Put aside all of the slightly mad definitions some readily accept and holdfast to, and open yourself up to the historical accounts of the Fae Folk.  They can indeed appear just like you and I.   From hereon, in this podcast, I'll refer to them more accurately as the Sídhe (anglicised as Shee), as they tend to be known in the Celtic nations.  It is odd indeed how the stories of the Shee are predominant in the parts of Britain and Ireland where Celts settled.  Even their fear of iron, is said to be derived from the early Celtic settlers who brandished Iron swords. What is generally accepted is that Fairies are said to inhabit or at least be found in the woodland, inhabit lakes, hills, live near stone circles and generally reside their Kingdom Faerie which lies underground.  Close by you may find the doorway to Faerie. Is it safe to enter?  Should you enter?  How should you deal with the Sidhe? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message

Many have attempted to give potted histories of the life of Aleister Crowley, ironically of the potted histories I have read, few seemed to understand the first thing about him, and most likely have never read a single book by him.  I want to talk about Aleister Crowley here, but I don't want to fall into that same hackneyed trap. Instead they often repeat things they found shocking about the man from other potted histories they have read, and never questioned whether what they are repeating was actually true.  So how to go about this, and talk about Aleister Crowley in a new way? I can tell you that when he lived at Boleskine house in the parish of Abertarff on the banks of Loch Ness, my own great-grandfather was a neighbor and knew him quite well.  They played chess together, that's how they first met.  Such a charismatic figure as Crowley naturally survived in Oral Testimony.   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-wilson262/message